A City at War focuses on the labor experience of working men and women in Milwaukee, Wisconsin during World War II. Many Americans who did not serve in the Armed Forces instead worked to produce the essential goods necessary for victory - vehicles, weapons, munitions and components for all the machinery of war. But even in wartime there were labor conflicts, fueled by the sacrifices and tensions of wartime life. Author Richard Pifer studies the industrial conflict, focusing on the experiences and concerns of working men and women, as well as the efforts of companies to control costs and meeting the challenges of pending post-war competition. This book is a social history providing a complex view of the Milwaukee home front and the way Americans responded to the most significant war of the twentieth century.

Book Author Bio

Richard L. Pifer was director of the Reference and Public Services Bureau of the Library-Archives Division of the Wisconsin Historical Society until his retirement in 2015. He has a Ph.D. in history from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.